Steinberg Wavelab Elements 8 Manual
Have a look at the manual Steinberg Wavelab Elements 8 Manual online for free. It’s possible to download the document as PDF or print. UserManuals.tech offer 523 Steinberg manuals and user’s guides for free. Share the user manual or guide on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.
Loops About Refining Loops 271 If the automatic search for loop points is not successful, you can process the waveform to allow for smoother loops by crossfading areas of the waveform close to the loop start and end points. To use the Loop Tweaker, you must first define a loop using a pair of loop markers. Loop Points Adjustment Tab Use the Loop Points Adjustments tab in the Loop Tweaker dialog to manually refine a loop selection by dragging on the waveform left/right or by using the automatic search buttons to find the nearest good loop point. The aim is to align the waveforms so that they meet at a zero-crossing point where the waveforms match as closely as possible. When you adjust your loop start and end points within the dialog, the start and end loop markers in the main waveform window adjust accordingly. Note that this movement may or may not be visible depending on how much you move the markers and on the zoom factor that you have selected. It may be helpful to loop the transport during playback so that you can hear the difference when you adjust the loop markers within the dialog. Note that if you are not using a crossfade or post-crossfade, you do not need to click Apply when tweaking loop points. You can also leave this dialog window open and manually adjust the position of the markers in the main waveform windows. Crossfade Tab This tab allows you to apply a crossfade of the end of a loop with a copy of the beginning of the loop. This can be useful to smooth the transition between the end of a loop and its beginning, especially when you use material that does not naturally loop. Use the envelope drag points or value sliders to adjust the crossfade envelope. Click Apply to process the crossfade. Post-Crossfade Tab This tab allows you to cross fade the loop back into the audio behind the end of the loop by mixing a copy of the loop back into the audio. Use the envelope drag points or value sliders to adjust the crossfade envelope. Click Apply to process the post crossfade.
Loops About Refining Loops 272 Refining Loops You can refine loops using the Loop Tweaker tool. PREREQUISITE Set up a basic loop. PROCEDURE 1. In the Audio Files workspace, select the loop that you want to refine by clicking between its loop start and loop end marker. 2. Select Process > Loop Tweaker. 3. Refine your loop using the settings in the Loop Tweaker tool. 4. Click Apply. Moving Loop Points Manually If your loop still has glitches or bumps at the turning points, you can use the Loop Tweaker tool to move the points in small steps to remove the glitch. This is similar to moving the loop points in the wave display, but with a visual feedback to facilitate finding good loop points. There are two ways of moving the loop points manually on the Loop points adjustment tab in the Loop Tweaker dialog: • Drag the waveform to the left and right. • Use the green arrows below the waveform to nudge the audio to the left and right. Each click moves the loop point by a single sample. The following applies when moving the loop points manually: • To move the end point to a later or earlier position, move the left part of the display. • To move the start point to a later or earlier position, move the right part of the display. • To move the start and end points simultaneously, activate Link start and end points. This way, when adjusting a loop point, the length of the loop stays the same, but the entire loop is moved. • You can also adjust the loop markers in the wave window.
Loops About Refining Loops 273 Automatically Detect Good Loop Points The Loop Tweaker tool can automatically search for good loop points. PROCEDURE 1.In the Audio Files workspace, select the loop that you want to refine by clicking between its loop start and loop end marker. 2. Select Process > Loop Tweaker. 3. On the Loop points adjustment tab, make sure that Link start and end points is deactivated. 4. In the Automatic search section, specify the Aimed correspondence and the Search accuracy. 5. Click the yellow arrow buttons to start the automatic search for a good loop point. WaveLab Elements scans from the current point forwards or backwards, until it finds a point that matches. You can stop at any time by clicking the right mouse button. The program then jumps back to the best found match. 6. Check the loop by playing it back. 7. Optional: If you think there might be a better loop point, continue with the search. Temporarily Storing Loop Points Temporarily saving and restoring loop points allows you to quickly compare different loop settings. PREREQUISITE Set up a basic loop and open the Loop Tweaker tool. NOTE There are five slots for temporarily saving loop point settings per wave window and montage window, not one per set of loop points. This means that if you have several sets of loops in your file, you must be careful to not recall the wrong set. NOTE Only loop positions are temporarily saved.
Loops About Refining Loops 274 PROCEDURE 1. On the Loop points adjustment tab, in the Temporary memories section, select M. 2. Select one of the five memory slots. About Crossfades in Loops Crossfading is useful to smooth the transition between the end of a loop and its beginning, especially when using material that does not naturally loop. Sometimes it is impossible to find a loop that does not cause any glitches. This is especially true for stereo material, where you might be able to find a perfect candidate for only one channel. In this case crossfading smears the material around the end loop point so that it loops perfectly. This is achieved by mixing material from before the loop start with material that is located before the loop end. Note that this technique alters the waveform and therefore changes the sound. However, normally you can find settings that minimize this problem. Creating a Crossfade PROCEDURE 1.In the Audio Files workspace, create a good a loop as you can. 2. Select Process > Loop Tweaker. 3. Decide if you want to create a crossfade or a post-crossfade: • If you want to create a crossfade, click the Crossfade tab. • If you want to create a post-crossfade, click the Post-Crossfade tab. 4. Make sure that Crossfade audio at end of loop with audio before loop (Crossfade tab) or Crossfade audio after loop with audio of loop start (Post-Crossfade tab) is activated. 5. Decide on a length for the crossfade either by dragging the length handle or by adjusting the Length value below the graph. 6. Decide on a crossfade shape by dragging the shape handle or by adjusting the Shape (from equal gain to equal power) value.
Loops About Refining Loops 275 7. Click Apply. The sound is processed. Each time that you click Apply, the previous loop process is automatically undone. This allows you to try out many settings quickly. NOTE Do not move the loop points after you have performed a crossfade. The waveform has been processed specifically for the current loop settings. AFTER COMPLETING THIS TASK: • You can check the crossfade visually by opening the Loop points adjustment tab and activating Display processed audio. When this is activated, the display shows a preview of the crossfaded waveform. When the option is deactivated, the display shows the waveform original. Switching back and forth allows you to compare the two. About Post-Crossfades Post-crossfading means crossfading the loop back into the audio after the end of the loop so that there is not glitch when playback continues after the loop. This is done by mixing a copy of the loop back into the audio. The post-crossfade can be set up on the Post-Crossfade tab of the Loop Tweaker dialog. The post-crossfade analyzes the part of the waveform that occurs just after the loop start and processes a certain area that begins at the end of the loop. The length parameter adjusts the size of this area. Everything else is identical with regular crossfading. Loop Tweaker Dialog This dialog allows you to adjust the loop start and end points, and crossfade the loop boundaries. In the Audio Files workspace, select Process > Loop Tweaker.
Loops About Refining Loops 276 The Loop Tweaker dialog consists of the following tabs: Loop Points Adjustment Tab The top of this dialog shows the beginning and the end of the waveform between the loop markers. The bottom of this dialog offers the following options: Loop End - Green Arrows Move the loop end points to the left/right. Loop End - Yellow Arrows Invokes an automatic search for the nearest good loop point to the left/right of the loop end point and moves the end point to that position. Loop Start - Green Arrows Moves the loop start points to the left/right. Loop Start - Yellow Arrows Invokes an automatic search for the nearest good loop point to the left/right of the loop start point, and moves the start point to that position. Stereo merge If this option is activated for a stereo file, the two waveforms are overlayed, otherwise they are shown in two separate sections.
Loops About Refining Loops 277 Overlap If this option is activated, the waveforms of both halves are continued in the other half. This shows how the waveform looks like right before and after the loop. Display processed audio If this option is activated, the display shows a preview of the waveform after crossfading. If deactivated, you see what the waveform looks like without crossfading. This option only makes sense after you have set up a crossfade and clicked Apply. Automatic vertical zooming If this option is activated, the vertical magnification is adjusted so that the waveform always fills the entire display vertically. Zoom Sets the zoom factor. Current correspondence Indicates how well the waveforms near the loop points match one another. The left value estimates the similarity across several wave cycles, while the right value estimates the similarity of the few samples near the loop points. The higher the values, the better the match. Aimed correspondence (0-1000) Sets up the automatic search for good loop points. This defines how well the found section must resemble the section to which it is compared, in order to be considered a match. The higher the value, the more precise the resemblance must be. A value of 1000 most likely fails, since it requires a 100 % perfect match. Search accuracy Determines how many samples should be taken into account by the auto-find analysis. Higher values result in greater accuracy, but also in longer processing times. Link start and end points If this option is activated, both the start and end points move simultaneously when you adjust the loop points manually. That is, the loop length is exactly the same, but the entire loop moves. Temporary memories Allows you to save up to five different sets of loop points which you can later recall. This allows you to try out several different loop settings. To store a set, click this button, then on one of the buttons 1-5.
Loops About Refining Loops 278 Crossfade Tab Crossfade audio at end of loop with audio before loop To enable crossfading, activate this checkbox. The crossfade is applied when you click Apply. Length Determines the section length of the audio file to be used in the crossfade. Generally, you want the crossfade to be as short as possible, with an acceptable result: • Using a long crossfade smoothens the loop. However, more of the waveform is processed, which changes its character. • A shorter crossfade affects the sound less, but the loop is not as smooth. Shape (from equal gain to equal power) Determines the shape of the crossfade. Generally, use low values for simple sounds and high values for complex sounds.
Loops About Refining Loops 279 Post-Crossfade Tab Crossfade audio after loop with audio of loop To enable crossfading, activate this checkbox. The crossfade is applied when you click Apply. Length Determines the section length of the audio file to be used in the crossfade. Generally, you want the post-crossfade to be as short as possible, with an acceptable result: • Using a long post-crossfade smoothens the loop. However, more of the waveform is processed, which changes its character. • A shorter post-crossfade affects the sound less, but the loop is not as smooth. Shape (from equal gain to equal power) Determines the shape of the post-crossfade. Generally, use low values for simple sounds and high values for complex sounds.
Loops About Looping Seemingly Unloopable Audio 280 About Looping Seemingly Unloopable Audio Sounds that constantly decay in level or continuously change in timbre are difficult to loop. The Loop Tone Uniformizer allows you to create loops from sounds that seem unloopable. The Loop Tone Uniformizer applies processing to the sound that evens out changes in level and timbral characteristics in order for a sound to loop properly. For example, this is useful for creating looped samples for a softsynth or hardware sampler. The Loop Tone Uniformizer includes a crossfade facility so that the original sound fades into the processed sections as playback approaches the loop start. To use the Loop Tone Uniformizer, you must have a loop defined using a pair of loop markers. The original length of the loop is not changed. Looping Seemingly Unloopable Audio PROCEDURE 1.In the Audio Files workspace, set up a basic loop. 2. Select Process > Loop Tone Uniformizer. 3. Make sure that either Slice mixing or Chorus smoothing is activated and make the settings. 4. Optional: Open the Pre-Crossfade tab, and set up a crossfade. 5. Click Apply. The sound is processed. Each time that you click Apply, the previous loop process is automatically undone. This allows you to try out many settings quickly. NOTE Do not move the loop points after you have performed a crossfade. The waveform has been processed specifically for the current loop settings. AFTER COMPLETING THIS TASK: After using the Loop Tone Uniformizer, the transition from the end of the loop to the end of the file is in many cases not very natural. This can be fixed by creating a post-crossfade using the Loop tweaker.